Cillett's case, the sequel

摘要

In last year's May issue of the Internal Medicine Journal,1 Beran and Devereux analysed the New South Wales District Court action inRv Gillett NSW District Court File No 03/11/1112. Readers will recall that the case involved the prosecution of a man with a long history of epilepsy who had been charged and convicted of dangerous driving causing death. One of the authors - Professor Roy Beran -gave evidence for the defence, deposing that before the accident, the accused was believed to have only nocturnal seizures and that his epilepsy was well controlled by ongoing anti-epileptic medication (carbamazapine). Both of the two expert witnesses agreed that the accused would have been endorsed as fit to hold a restricted driver licence in reliance on the Austroad Guidelines and that it was only after the accident that further evaluation showed that Gillett had sleep apnoea, a condition of which he and, it' would appear, his consultant, were unaware. Beran's